Be Your Own Strength Coach

As a strength coach, my WHY is “Everyday Better!" Both for myself and everyone I have the privilege of coaching in the weight room. This WHY is underpinned by my beliefs that optimal training is the key to success and is supported by an educational focus, needs-based, systems-driven, and process-oriented approach to training. All of this is supported by the key values of: honesty, integrity, respect, hard work, enjoyment, people first, authenticity, and accountability.

In this month’s column, I am going to outline how each person can effectively develop their own training programs for the weight room based on the systems that I have used and refined over many years of coaching. Just one caveat before we commence, this is one coach's opinion. One thing I have learned over the last 40-plus years in this industry is that if you get 100 coaches into the same room and ask how to best program, you will get 100 similar, but different, approaches. So, in the immortal words of the great Bruce Lee:

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”

Optimal Training

My programming is based around three key areas of performance and supported by training the areas of the body that are most at risk or have been injured previously. With that as the focus, the areas are neural (speed & power), mechanical (size & strength), and metabolic (fitness & body composition) together with the CARE program of exercises to minimize injury and correct imbalances in the body.
I have found over the years that most athletes are a mix of two of the areas above (neural, mechanical, and metabolic) and that all athletes need to be more explosive. Back in 2016, I wrote an article on programming using a very simple flow chart, A Simple Flow Chart for Athlete Programming - Elite FTS and I believe that this is an excellent starting point in determining the key areas that you need to work on in your program.

This also brings to mind the classic Louie quote: "Whatever you do not train, you lose." So, identify the aspects of what you need to get better, then prioritize these and touch on them frequently in the course of your training week, irrespective of whether that is off-season or in-season. "Train Big, Recover Big, Get Big" is my simple mantra to achieve individual training goals, but the devil is in the details.

Here is a week plan that I would put in place for an off-season development program.

Off-Season Week Plan

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Neural: FCM Upper & Lower Body	Mechanical: Full Body Strength & Size	Mobility: Hurdles/Movement Patterns	Neural: FCM Upper & Lower Body	Mechanical: Full Body Strength & Size
+	+	+	+	+
Armour Plating	Armour Plating	Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning	Armour Plating	Armour Plating
OR	OR		OR	OR
				Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning
Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning	Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning		Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning
+	+	+	+	+
CARE: 2 x UB, 2 x LB	CARE: 2 x UB, 2 x LB	Stretch or Yoga or Pilates	CARE: 2 x UB, 2 x LB	CARE: 2 x UB, 2 x LB

Another plan of attack for the off-season could be programmed like this.

Second Option Off-Season Plan

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
Neural: FCM Upper Body	Neural: FCM Lower Body	Mobility: Hurdles/Movement Patterns	Neural: Traditional Contrast	Mechanical: Full Body Strength & Size
+	+	+	+	+
Mechanical: Upper Body	Mechanical: Lower Body	Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning	Armour Plating	Armour Plating
				OR
+	+		OR	Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet ConditioningOR +
Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning	Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning		Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning
OR	OR		+
Armour Plating	Armour Plating
+	+	+
CARE: 4 x UB	CARE: 4 x LB	Stretch or Yoga or Pilates	CARE: 4 x UB	CARE: 4 x LB

Compared to an in-season plan, the front end of the week stays relatively the same, although this is all dependent on player welfare and how they report in an initial meeting on Monday morning. A completely different front end of the week would be planned if a player presents on Monday not feeling ready to go (subjective) or has been red-flagged on a variety of monitoring tests (objective). They could be given another recovery day or simply do a CARE-based plan and stretch to ensure readiness for practice and availability for the rest of the week and game.

Third Option Off-Season Program

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Neural: FCM Upper & Lower Body	Mechanical: Full Body Strength & Size	Mobility: Hurdles/Movement Patterns	Neural: Traditional Contrast	Mobility: Hurdles/Movement Patterns
+	+	+	+
Armour Plating	Armour Plating	Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning	Mechanical: 1 x Unilateral UB Push, 1 x Unilateral LB Squat or Hinge	Acceleration Program:Run RocketStartsMed Ball ThrowsLB Plyometrics
OR	OR	OR	OR
Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning	Metabolic: Circuit or Off Feet Conditioning	Core Circuit&Jump Program	Armour Plating
+	+	+	+	+
CARE: 2 x UB, 2 x LB	CARE: 2 x UB, 2 x LB	Stretch	CARE: 2 x LB, 2 x UB	Stretch

Depending on the goal of the training and also the training age of the athlete, I could use any of these loading plans to complement the exercise selection in the above programs.

Sets And Reps Variations for Size, Strength and Power

Option One

Week/MovementsTraining Goal	Strength & Bilateral	Size & Unilateral	Power & Plyo/MB
1	3 x 6	3 x 12	3 x 5/10 @ 60%
2	2 x 4	3 x 8	3 x 3/6 @ 80%
3	3 x 5	3 x 10	3 x 4/8 @ 70%
4	2 x2	3x 6	3 x 2/4 @ 90%

Option Two

Weeks/MovementsTraining Goal	Strength & Bilateral	Size & Unilateral
1	4 x 6	12, 10, 8
2	2 x 5, 2 x 3	4 x 8
3	3 x 1/6 Contrast	10, 8, 6
4	2 x (5, 3,1) wave	4 x 6

Option Three 

Weeks/Movements Training Goal	Bilateral	Unilateral
1	5 x 5	10, 8, 6
2	4 x 1/5 Contrast	4 x 6
3	4 x 3/3 Cluster	8, 6, 4
4	2 x (3, 2,1) wave	4 x 4

Option Four 

Weeks/Movements Training Goal	Bilateral	Unilateral
1	2 x (6,5,4) wave	4 x 8
2	5 x 2	5 x 5
3	5,4,3,2,1	10, 8, 6, 15-20
4	Ramp 1’ or 2’s	3 x 5,4,3,2,1 @ 70%

Here are the specific session details which would be the key exercise selections for the Neural and Mechanical aspects of the program.

Session Details

Neural

FCM Lower Body	FCM Upper Body	Traditional Contrast
1 x Squat or Hinge Maximal Strength movement 1 x Plyometric or Med Ball Movement 1 x Accessory Lower Body Movement 1 x Plyometric or Med Ball Movement	1 x Vertical or Horizontal Push Movement 1 x Plyometric or Med Ball Movement 1 x Accessory Upper Body Movement 1 x Plyometric or Med Ball Movement	1 x Explosive Pull (Hinge) s/s LB Plyometric or Med Ball 1 x Explosive Squat s/s LB Plyometric or Med Ball 1 x Explosive Push s/s UB Plyometric or Med Ball

Mechanical

Full Body	Lower Body	Upper Body
1 x Bilateral Squat or Hinge 1 x Unilateral Squat or Hinge (depends on the type you did for the first movement) 1 x Bilateral UB Push s/s Bilateral Pull 1 x Unilateral UB Push s/s UB Pull (Different plane than first UB movements)	1 x Bilateral Squat  1 x Bilateral Hinge 1 x Unilateral Squat or Hinge (depends on the type you did for the first movement)	1 x Horizontal Bilateral UB Push s/s Pull 1 x Vertical Bilateral UB Push s/s Pull; 1 x Unilateral UB Push s/s UB Pull (Different plane than first UB movements)

These are all organized into a selection chart from which each player can choose the movements that are best suited for themselves, based on training age and injury history.

For the Armour Plating programming, a player can choose from the following chart. I usually will super set Chest & Back or Shoulders & Arms and keep legs on a separate plan. A player is free to add variations from the chart below that have worked for them previously. This chart below just outlines a few that I have used over the years and as you can imagine there are a plethora of variations you could choose from.

Hypertrophy Body Part/Armour Plating Finishers 

LEGS	CHEST	BACK	SHOULDERS	ARMS
Quadzilla/Wowstrings	Pectoral Punishment	Big Back Maniac	Boulder Shoulders	Arm Race
1a. Front Squat (6)1b. Reverse Lunge (12)1c. Goblet Squat (25)	Triple Drop Incline DB Bench Press (45/30/15)	Head Supported Yates Row s/s Landmine Kroc Row	1a. Seated Lateral1b. Seated Front1c. Seated Arnold Press	EZ Barbell Curl s/sSwiss Bar Close Grip Bench Press
Front Squat s/s Back Squat	3-way Standing Cable FlysLow to HighHigh to LowHorizontal to Floor	Muscle Snatch from Hang s/s Banded Face Pulls	Banded Lateral Raises 21’s s/s Bradford Press	Seated DB Hammer s/s JM Presses
1a Hip Thrust (6)1b. Reverse Hyper (12)1c. KB Swing (25)	Mechanical Advantage Push Ups: Feet Elevated, Normal, Hands Elevated	Weighted Chins (6)BW Chins (6)Band-Assisted Chins (6)	Seated Muscle Snatch s/sSeated Snatch Grip Press Behind Neck	Incline DB Curls s/s Lying DB Rolling Extensions
Single Leg Back Extension: Finish each set with Bosch Iso Hold for time	Mechanical Advantage Dips: Ring Dips, Parallel Bar Dips, Bench Dips	Fat Man’s Chins s/s Renegade Row	3-Way Shoulder RaiseDB Lateral, Seated Plate Front, Cable Bent-over	DB Twist Curls s/sLow Incline Tate Presses

These are the options they can choose from for the explosive training elements of neural programming. Once again, if a player has other options, they are free to include them. This is just a sample of the huge number of variations you could program from.

Plyometrics, Jumps & Med Ball Throw Options

Lower Body	Upper Body
Box Jumps	Drop Push-Ups
Box Hops	Clap Push-Ups
Lateral Bench Blasts	Band-Assisted Plyo Push-Ups
Repeat Standing Long Jumps	Half Kneeling Banded Diagonal Chop High to Low
Repeat Hurdle Jumps	Half Kneeling Banded Diagonal Chop Low to High
Repeat Hurdle Hops	MB Drops with Partner
Borzov Hops	Crossover MB Push-Ups
Ice Skater	MB Lateral Throw to Wall
Depth JumpsVariations (squat & split)	MB Overhead Throw to Wall
Knees to Feet Jumps	MB Half Kneeling Side Toss to Wall
Squat Jumps	Kneeling MB Overhead Throw
Tuck Jumps	Standing MB Slam
Split Squat Jumps	Squat MB Throws vertical
Hops	Wall MB Chest Pass
Seated Box Jumps with Foot Stamp	Partner MB Push Pass
MB Scoop Toss	Plyo Pull Ups (Bar Release)
Band-Assisted Repeat Vertical Jumps	Swiss Ball Sit Up & MB Throw Against Wall
Ankle Flips	Partner Leg Throw Down
In Place Hops	Feet Elevated Plyo Push-Up
Plate Pogos	Forward MB Throw
Skipping	MB Overhead Throw

Finally, but not in any level of importance is the CARE program from which players will choose elements to supplement the performance aspects of their program. I have added unilateral variations in this revised chart since I feel it is a way to ensure that each player is getting enough of this type of training and not neglecting an essential component of training. 

Full Body & Iso Lateral CARE Program 2023

2 x 8 – 20 reps

Neck	Thoracic/Scapular/Traps	Rotator Cuff	Core	Unilateral UBPush	Unilateral UB Pull	Grip
Banded Look Away	Face Pulls	Incline Y, T, I’s	Rollouts	One Arm DB Bench Press	One Arm DB Row	Bottom Up KB Hold
Leaning Lateral Neck Plank	Turkish Row	Cuban Press	Hanging Leg Raises	KB Z Press	Seated DB One Arm Snatch	Towel/Rope Chins
Plate Extension & Flexion	Chinese Back Planks	Lying Int/Ext Rotation with bar	Weighted Sit Ups	Javelin Press	Landmine Kroc Rows	Bucket of Rice
Banded Protraction & Retraction	Scapular Push-Ups	DB L Raise	Pallov Press	One Arm DB Shoulder Press	One Arm Seated Row	Plate Flip
Wrestler’s BridgePlank series	Thoracic Extensions on Swiss Ball	Bottom Up KB Shoulder Press	Landmine Twist	Half Kneeling Landmine Press	One Arm Pulldown	Thick Bar Chins
Groin/Hips	Knee	Hamstring	UnilateralSquat	UnilateralHinge	Loaded Carry	Ankle/Foot
Monster Walk	Reverse Nordic	Pull Throughs	Sprinter’s Squat	Kick Stand Split Stance RDL	Farmer’s Walk	Single Leg Standing Calf raise
Copenhagen Planks	Poliquin Step Up	Nordics/GHG	Split Squats	Single Leg KB RDL	Sandbag or Zercher Carry	Seated Calf Raise
Goblet position Lateral Lunge	Single Leg Squat to Box	Reverse Hyper	TRX Skater Squat	High Jumper’s  Step Up	Waiter’s Walk	Hop onto Bosu Ball
Side Plank with Leg Abduction	Terminal Leg Extensions (VMO)	Sliders in Bridge position	Single Leg Squat	Single Leg Back Extension with Iso Hold	Suitcase Carry	Towel Crunches
Banded Clams	Low Box Step Ups	Harrop Hamstring	Lunge Variations	Single Leg Glute Bridge	Combo Waiter/Suitcase	Balance Board

Optimal Training Programming Aides

In 2017, I wrote an article detailing many of the off and on feet running options that I use in the metabolic aspects of my programming, Weapons of Metabolic Disruption. And as far as the circuits are concerned, this article provides a comprehensive list and rationale: Circuit Training for Metabolic Gains.

I have found these movements, in addition to various high hurdle mobility drills, to be an excellent collection for players to choose from to assist in both mobility and dynamic warm-ups.

Dynamic Flexibility Movement Drills

10 reps per movement, each side if applicable

Do not rush through

Inch Worms

4-Way Lunge Pattern

Mountain Climber

Supine & Prone Scorpions

Grasshopper

Cat to Camel

Banded Rainbow

Lateral Leg Swings

Forward & Backward Leg Swing

Rock & Rolls

Thoracic Spine Rotation

Salute the Sun

Bird Dog Crunch

Banded Fire Hydrants

Hindu Push-Ups

High Hurdles

There are no rights or wrongs in programming. What works for one person may not work for another. So experiment on yourself and see what works for you and then load, recover, and repeat for success.

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Ashley Jones has worked in three professional sports across 30 years and four continents. He was awarded the NSCA's Professional Coach of the Year in 2016. Ashley holds his CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) since 1988 and is an honorary lecturer in the School of Therapeutic Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, SA.